Erik Summers

Helsinki 6-3

85 Prague Phantoms @ Helsinki Titans 86 Calgary Wranglers @ HC Davos Dynamo 87 Riga Reign @ New York Americans 88 Malmo Nighthawks @ D.C. Dragons

Shhhh... You never saw that.

Welcome to the first edition of VSN’s S70 Weekly recap (Games 1-48). We’ll cover a host of things in this recap each week including highlights of important VSN happenings, three stars of the week, power rankings, rookie profiles, and anything else of importance. Recap And just like that, another season is upon us. We have gotten our first look at this season’s competition with many new faces and old faces in new places. Several rookies have set out to make names for themselves. Jimmy Spyro was flawless in his VHL debut with a shutout against Toronto. Patrick Tallinder beat the snot out of Phantoms’ enforcer Blake Laughton. And Erik Summers leads the Titans in +/-. Meanwhile, several free agents have made waves on their new teams. Codrick Past has already scored two short-handed goals for Riga. JB Rift shut out the New York Americans in his second game as a Wrangler. And former Calgary tender, Brick Wahl, has put up impressive numbers in Prague. It is hard to say that anyone is performing above or below expectations so early in the season, but I think a couple of teams stand out. You can call it a cup hangover or you can call it cap space hell, but I don’t think anyone expected to see Seattle scraping the bottom of the North American Conference. Hulk Hogan even lost a fight! What has become of the reigning champs? On the other end of the spectrum, after the intense locker room drama of S69, the Calgary Wranglers are leading their conference early in the season. Time will tell if they can hold it together is S70, but it has certainly been a promising start. Also of note, Davos… doesn’t suck? I think we all expect great things from Gustav, but turning around Davos this quickly is certainly a shock. We will have to wait and see if they can continue to contend for a playoff spot in the European Conference. As far as league news goes, it has been a fairly slow week. The only major change made this week affects a relatively small selection of players. Players claiming pension will now have to have two players at 700 TPE instead of the previous 400 TPE. This inflation is allegedly a response to uncapped TPE becoming easier to acquire in recent seasons. It seems that teams are still trying to get settled into their new rosters and find their identities. I expect in the new week or so that we will start to see teams begin grappling with whether they intend to contend this season or look to start moving their upcoming FAs to teams that are in the hunt for the cup. 3-Stars First Star Smitty Werbenjagermanjensen (MOS) - 3 Goals, 10 Assists Second Star Julian Borwinn (HSK) - 7 Goals, 10 Assists Third Star Owen May (TOR) - 0.936 SV%, 1.83 GAA Power Rankings European Conference Moscow Menace - They haven’t played any top teams outside of Vancouver and they went 1-1 with the Wolves. However, leading is leading, and it is hard to argue with results. Prague Phantoms - Prague could be number 1 on this list, but losing to Davos was a bad look for the Phantoms. They are going to have to prove it if they want to win my confidence. Helsinki Titans - Helsinki doesn’t lead the league in much, but they do have more goals than anyone else. If they can start winning close games they will start racking up points. Riga Reign - They beat Davos and lost to Helsinki, then they lost to Davos and beat Helsinki. Riga has been starting their backup goalie a lot so far, so expect them to improve soon. HC Davos Dynamo - 3 OT losses mean Davos might not be behind Riga and Helsinki in the standings, but they are still losses. That being said, the 3, 4, and 5 spots are tight right now. Malmo Nighthawks - Second fewest goals in the league and the second-most goals against. It is hard to know where to start with the Nighthawks problems. North American Conference Calgary Wranglers - Calgary has the best record in the league and they played real teams to get it. At the moment, they are the team to beat if you want to call yourself the best. New York Americans - The top two teams in NA have already played each other five times. The Americans only won two of those games and find themselves in second as a result. Vancouver Wolves - Vancouver is good, beating Moscow proved that, but how good? Getting to play D.C. three times already may indicate that their record is better than they deserve. Toronto Legion - It is a testament to the strength of the NA Conference this season that Toronto is this low. Don’t be fooled, this is a team that can and will beat anyone. D.C. Dragons - Defense is a real concern in D.C. They have the worst point differential and the most goals allowed in the conference. Seattle Bears - The cup hangover is real in Seattle. Don’t expect them to look this bad all season, but for now, they are at the bottom my NA power rankings. Notable Games Game 39 Calgary Wranglers vs New York Americans Game 5 of the series between the top two teams in the North American Conference, this match certainly lived up to the hype. Both teams came into this game with two wins over the other so we had a rubber match on our hands. It got extremely chippy, with both teams giving up seven power-play opportunities, but Calgary was able to take advantage with the only PP goal of the game. The Wranglers walk away from this one with the conference lead… for now. Game 40 - Vancouver Wolves vs Toronto Legion I chose this game at the beginning of the week to highlight a series between what I expected to be two of the top contenders in the North American Conference. It seems I may have overestimated Toronto’s talent and I considered cutting it from my notable games list. However, one thing made me keep it in, goaltending. Rookie tender, Jimmy Spyro has won all three of his first games, including a shutout and one three goals allowed. Part of that is due to Vancouver having one of the best defences in the league, but it is hard to overstate how impress Spyro’s early performance has been. Game 46 - Moscow Menace vs Seattle Bears Last season’s champs against one of the favourites for the cup this season! This game was a clear showcase of the difference between a team that was good but lost a couple key pieces and team currently in their prime. Moscow dominated every facet of this matchup. Moscow has been one of the harder teams to figure out early on this season, which meant even this matchup was in question. They have a good record, but that is mostly from beating up on the worst teams in the league, they go 1-1 with Vancouver, and then they get shut out in their last game against Malmo. Honestly, I want to see them play a couple more real contenders before I’m convinced they’re as good as their record suggests. Events of the Week Fights Game 15 - Tallinder beats up Laughton The first fight of the season and it is a fresh face dropping gloves against a seasoned veteran. Tallinder cleanly hit Teagan Glover, but Blake Laughton took exception to the hit and dragged Patrick into a fight. Not only did he take a beating, but Laughton also got a penalty for instigation and ejected from the game. However, the fight inspired the Phantoms, as they went on to score twice shortly afterwards and went on to win the game. Game 16 - Graves beats up Hogan Graves takes the belt! Hulk has a reputation for fighting, and it looks like Benny was in search of some clout of his own. Seemingly unprovoked, Graves dropped gloves and challenged the fighting champion. Never one to back down from a fight, Hogan obliged, but the fight did not go his way. Benny got an additional penalty for instigation and an ejection, but, just like in game 15, the team who went down a player responded with a quick goal and an eventual victory. Game 24 - Aaltonen draws with Stark After sustained offensive pressure in the Dragons’ zone, Aaltonen was able to change things up by dropping gloves with Ambrose Stark. Although the first didn’t really go anywhere before it was broken up, it helped change the momentum enough to bring the Dragons back into the game. D.C. went on to win in the shootout, and they have Aaltonen to thank for the much-needed change of pace. There have been two fights between these teams in the first week of the season, keep an eye on this developing rivalry in the near future. Game 27 - BRAWL! After a high stick from rookie defenseman Shawn Glade Jr., Seabass Perrin took exception and jumped him. Glade didn’t put up a fight, but his teammates stepped in on his behalf and we found ourselves with our first all-out brawl of the season. John Madden, Edward Vigneault, Milos Slavik, Roll Fizzlebeef, Andrej Petrovic, and Willie Dredge all paired off. Although none of the fights had a decisive winner, Dredge went on to score in the early minutes of the following period. His goal became the game-winner, so it would feel wrong to call anyone other than the Phantoms of the winners of the mayhem. Game 44 - Vigneault draws with Nolan Both teams forgot to play defence in the first period. After going up 3-0, Prague let New York come back within one with just over a minute left in the first on a penalty to Roll Fizzlebeef. Taking exception to the call, and to the non-stop scoring, Edward Vigneault and Owen Nolan sought each other out as soon as they got on the ice. Although the fight didn’t really go anywhere before being broken up, it seemed like it might have finally slowed things down… for exactly ten seconds, before the Phantoms scored again. Hat-Tricks Game 21 - Pat Svoboda The first hat trick of the season, Svoboda’s work went to waste as Riga decided to keep their back-up goalie in until Helsinki had put up six goals. However, this is very promising for the Reign’s leading scorer. If he can score three goals against Pepper, he can do it against anyone. Game 22 - Bjorn Scoringsonn Scoringsonn lives up to his name with the first 4-Goal game of the season. Bjorn took over a third of his team’s shots in this game, so Toronto’s game plan seems pretty clear, get the puck to Scoringsonn and let him shoot. Nethila Dissanayake has two primary assists and a secondary assist on these goals, so look for more big games from this duo. Game 43 - Julian Borwinn At first glance, it would be easy to chalk this one up to facing a back-up goalie, but after a closer look you’ll see that Finn Davidson came in just nine minutes into the game and gave up two of Borwinn’s three goals. When you start your backup goalie and go one for four on the penalty kill, you know you are going to have a bad day, but Borwinn put an exclamation point on this one with his first hat-trick of the season. Shutouts Game 7 - Calgary vs New York From zero to hero, JB Rift allowed five goals in the first game with the Wrangler, but he more than made up for it in the second game of their series against the American with the first shutout of S70. Game 18 - Vancouver vs Toronto What a way to start your VHL career! Jimmy Spyro was perfect in his first VHL game for the Wolves. Spyro has an exciting season in front of him if he continues to play like this as a backup goalie. Game 33 - Riga vs Davos It was like watching a VHL goalie face off against a VHLM scrub for the first half of this game. Finally, Riga decided that their backup goalie just wasn’t cutting it but the damage was already done. Davos walks away from a win and Samuel Ross gets his third career shutout. Game 34 - Vancouver vs Seattle Not to be upstaged by his backup, Greg Eagles locked in a shutout of his own, giving Vancouver two shutouts before most teams even have one. This was almost a scoreless game until Julius Freeman was finally able to get on the board with a power-play goal late in the third. Game 41 - Moscow vs Malmo This was certainly an unexpected result. Malmo has struggled early this season, but having to face Moscow over and over makes them look worse than they actually are. That being said, Michael Johnson only had one win in six games going into this matchup, and to walk away with the shutout in this one is a good confidence builder for a team in desperate need of inspiration. Game 42 - D.C. vs Seattle Kallis Kriketers has had a bumpy start to his time in D.C. with the lowest SV% and the highest GAA he has seen in years. Kriketers isn’t unfamiliar with having questionable defensive talent in front of him and every once in a while he just does what he does and puts a whole team on his back. The Dragons seem like 85% of a team and the moment, but they are going to be a real threat if their veterans can continue to play as they did in their peak. Rookie Spotlight Jimmy Spyro At this point, I’m done saying there is anything Jimmy Spyro can’t do. Becoming the starter for Ottawa halfway through his first season in the VHLM, Spyro scraped together only four wins in thirty-two games that year. However, the Mississauga Hounds saw something they liked and snatched him up that off-season. He went on to lead the team to second place in the regular season and a cup final with a 0.885 SV% and a GAA just a hair over 2. Jimmy Spyro became the shutout master, racking up 10 shutouts throughout S69. Probably more impressive than his time in the VHLM was Spyro’s performance at the WJC for Team Asia. Taking home silver and the tournament MVP award. “Coming in as an underdog and being passed off to Team Asia by his qualifying country Jimmy Spyro decided to make a name for himself. Going 7-0-1 with a .932 save percentage in the round-robin and going 1 -1 with a save percentage of .903 in the medal games.” - WJC Commissioner Acydburn What do you know? He continued his reputation with a shutout in his first VHL game. Facing the veteran Owen May, each goalie faced 36 shots, and Spyro stopped every single one. If Jimmy sees more than the 8 games minimum that is required from a backup, he may even see some votes for Rookie of the Year.

@Cxsquared It pleases me greatly that you were on the ice for my first goal. We have two more games against each other in the next five, let's heat this rivalry up.

I'd like to apply to lead team Asia again.

Erik Summers Makes His VHL Debut After spending two year in the VHLM, Erik Summers has been called up to play his first game for the Helsinki Titans. Summers is the highest TPE rookie this season, so he is expected to make waves. However, in his first three games, Erik's biggest contribution to the score board was in hits and penalty minutes. With six of each, it appears that Summers got in over his head a few times and had to take bad penalties to compensate for poor position play. It is yet to be seen in Summers can adjust to the fast speed of play in the VHL, but in a post-game interview, he commented that skating is his main focus in early-season training. The season is long, so there is plenty of time to turn things around for the young defenseman. Erik Summers has a lot to learn from his line-mate in Guillaume Fontenette and there isn't a better place for a rookie than learning from a veteran at his position.

D - Erik Summers @CowboyinAmerica

D - Lincoln Tate @Josh

You're no fun.

G - Alexander Pepper @CowboyinAmerica

F - John Frostbeard @Josh

F - Kronos Bailey @CowboyinAmerica

F - Randoms @Josh

I was going to make a spreadsheet to see if this is true or not, but that is more work than I want to do, lol. It certainly appears that my idea isn't popular which is 100% okay, I just wanted to make sure I had communicated it clearly as being a replacement for welfare, not a removal of welfare. I think that is clear now, and it still seems pretty universally hated, so I'm happy to forget it.

That is what I am saying. This isn't a cut to welfare. It is a solution to money being useless. Players still get their welfare, but now contract negotiations actually matter, because teams will have to pay more for welfare players. It also gives GMs incentive to engage with players and encourage activity because then their contracts can cost less.

Then make it an amount that could be afforded. Raise the VHLM salary to 2 mil and make it cost 200K, so they can buy the "welfare" 10 weeks a season (which is basically all season). Then when they get to the VHL, teams will have to pay them 2mil more/season if they want their payers to develop without activity. That limits the number of welfare players that each team can support. Then you just adjust the salary cap to accommodate the number of welfare players you want in the league. That gives players an incentive to be active without actually penalizing players who aren't and instead penalizing the teams that employ them. Active players will be more valuable in the draft and in FA, but welfare players will still be able to easily make rosters and even be star players, just at a higher cost to the team.

Is posting +5 in the welfare thread once a week really forum activity? Wouldn't a button that allowed them to buy 5 TPE for $200,000 instead of doing a point task that week have the same effect?

This thread is so confusing... "We can't give people TPE for money, because we value activity." "We can't do anything that would anger the people who don't have time to be active because they are the core of our players." This is what makes changing anything so complicated.

I honestly don't understand. They would still get their TPE, they would just get it through the player store instead of welfare.

Can you mind explaining the fallout? Obviously, I have only been here a few months, so I could be missing something. Individual players won't be penalized for relying on essentially free TPE, however, teams will be not be able to support the contract needs of several free TPE dependant players at the same time. I would look at it like this. In contract negotiations, the player that already earns the cap each week will accept a minimum contract because he has nothing to gain from a larger deal. However, if a player doesn't plan to cap out every week, he can negotiate a higher contract in order to pay for free weeks to cover the difference, the more free TPE the player intends to use, the larger the contract they will have to try to get.

It would be a total rework of two systems, but here is my proposal. Step 1. Eliminate Pension/Welfare Currently, many player's primary source of TPE is for doing nothing but claiming it each week. That isn't necessarily a bad thing, but we need to eliminate this source of free TPE to make the a new source attractive. Step 2. Simplify Salary Brackets Get rid of the "Prime" Salary Bracket. It is unnecessary in this new system. Step 3. Greatly reduce the cost of "Free Week"s in the player store Instead of Welfare/Pension being the main source of TPE for less active players, instead make them spend a portion of their contract each week to support themselves. Step 4. Mildly reduce the cost of depreciation fighters The idea is, active players should be able to afford depreciation fighters on minimum contracts. The Pros Teams will only be able to support a limited number of minimally active players because the less active they are, the bigger the contract that will be required to keep them good. Increase the value of active/contributing players to their teams. This will make drafting players more nuanced as they will have value beyond just position/TPE. I think this will make team management more "fun" by giving GMs more options and strategic opportunities in team building. The Cons I don't know, that's why I' posting it here, because I think I have all the answer. Prove me wrong.